So, very late update but I did warn you guys, I am officially on Holiday and I make no promises as to how frequent my updates are going to be, but hey, hopefully you'll all enjoy them anyway. And because one reviewer has asked- what do people think of a male Annabeth for the Roman AU- and what sort of ships do you think I should go for with Annabeth and other characters.
Replies:
Weirdhead: Yep, poor poor Leo, kid goes through the ringer.
Guest: I wouldn't quite say overprotective but definitely protective yeah, and there's so much stuff I can't answer and you'll have to wait and see- and with the minific- I will say that the first chapter takes place over several days and the rest fill in the gap between that to answer questions as to what happened with other characters pov's if that makes sense.
Undeath9087: Yeah, definitely poor Leo, he deserves so much better- but alas Festus had to go boom I'm afraid.
Guest: No- no it would be the same in both option 1 and option 2, and again I love your review- but I really don't have the time to reply to it in full since I'm fairly busy at the moment with holiday stuff.
Phatima: Your vote has been counted.
The Official Clarisse: I'm glad you approve, and Octavian is canonically at least a year older than Percy- Percy would have turned seventeen not long after the final battle and Octavian was eighteen when he died- but yes she will be older than Jason still by just under a year. And thank you! I plan on having a nice one- the first holiday in like seven years.
Guest: I'm not opposed to it to be honest- it could be interesting. I'll see what others thing about the idea too.
Black' Victor Cachat: I know right? And you can't blame her for wanting to murder the bitch.

Poll:
Option 1: 23
Option 2: 25

Leo must have blacked out, he was sure of that much, and when he came to his senses, Jason and Piper were leaning over him. He was lying in the snow, covered in mud and grease. He spit a clump of frozen grass out of his mouth.

"Where—"

"Lie still. " Piper had tears in her eyes. "You rolled pretty hard when—when Festus—"

"Where is he?" Leo sat up, but his head felt like it was floating. They'd landed inside the compound. Something had happened on the way in—gunfire?

"Seriously, Leo," Jason said. "You could be hurt. You shouldn't—"

Leo pushed himself to his feet. Then he saw the wreckage. Festus must have dropped the big canary cages as he came over the fence, because they'd rolled in different directions and landed on their sides, perfectly undamaged.

Festus hadn't been so lucky.

The dragon had disintegrated. His limbs were scattered across the lawn. His tail hung on the fence. The main section of his body had plowed a trench twenty feet wide and fifty feet long across the mansion's yard before breaking apart. What remained of his hide was a charred, smoking pile of scraps. Only his neck and head were somewhat intact, resting across a row of frozen rosebushes like a pillow.

Leo felt as if he'd been punched in the gut and the keening cry that slipped past his lips was clearly heartbreaking enough that it made Piper flinch and Jason had to look away as Leo scrambled to his feet, ignoring the pain in his shoulder and across his chest.

He let out a broken sob as he sprinted towards Festus' head and dropped to his knees next to the dragons head, stroking its snout, pressing his forehead to the still hot metal, tears pouring down his cheeks as he stroked his hand over his snout, keeping his injured arm pressed close to his chest, it was still hurting- and he'd lost the sling in the fall, though landing in the mud and snow had at least hidden the worst of the blood from the wounds the Medea's dragons had inflicted on him. The dragons eyes flickered weakly and oil leaked out of his ear. "No." his voice was barely a whisper as he clung to his dragon. "No please Festus." he closed his eyes, "I love you- I love you. You're the best thing I've ever fixed- don't leave me please. I can't lose anyone else."

The dragon's head whirred its gears, as if it were purring. Jason and Piper moved to stand next to him, but Leo kept his eyes fixed on the dragon.

He remembered what his father had said to him. 'That isn't your fault, Leo. Nothing lasts forever, not even the best machines.'

His dad had been warning him- maybe that should have lessened the pain- the fact that his dad cared enough to try and reach out and comfort him for his loss.

It didn't. Nothing would ever make it feel any better. This wasn't something that he could fix with a few late nights. No there was no fixing this. He choked down a sob. "It's not fair."

The dragon clicked. Long creak. Two short clicks. Creak. Creak. Almost like a pattern … triggering an old memory in Leo's mind. Leo realized Festus was trying to say something. He was using Morse code—just like Leo's mom had taught him years ago. Leo listened more intently, translating the clicks into letters: a simple message repeating over and over.

"Yeah," Leo said. "I understand. I will. I promise. "

The dragon's eyes went dark. Festus was gone.

Leo cried. He wasn't even embarrassed. His friends stood on either side, patting his shoulders, saying comforting things; but the buzzing in Leo's ears drowned out their words.

Finally Jason said, "I'm so sorry, man. What did you promise Festus?"

Leo sniffled. He opened the dragon's head panel, just to be sure, but the control disk was cracked and burned beyond repair.

"Something my dad told me," Leo said. "Everything can be reused. "

"Your dad talked to you?" Jason asked. "When was this?"

Leo didn't answer. He worked at the dragon's neck hinges until the head was detached. It weighed about a hundred pounds, but Leo managed to hold it in his arms. He looked up at the starry sky and said, "Take him back to the bunker, Dad. Please, until I can reuse him. I've never asked you for anything before. Not like this." The wind picked up, and the dragon's head floated out of Leo's arms like it weighed nothing. It flew into the sky and disappeared.

Piper looked at him in amazement. "He answered you?"

"I had a dream," Leo managed. "Tell you later. "

He knew he owed his friends a better explanation, but Leo could barely speak. He felt like a broken machine himself—like someone had removed one little part of him, and now he'd never be complete. He might move, he might talk, he might keep going and do his job. But he'd always be off balance, never calibrated exactly right.

Still, he couldn't afford to break down completely. Otherwise, Festus had died for nothing. He had to finish this quest—for his friends, for his big sister who had died to save the world and for Festus too. For the world for that matter.

He looked around. The large white mansion glowed in the center of the grounds. Tall brick walls with lights and security cameras surrounded the perimeter, but now Leo could see—or rather sense—just how well those walls were defended.

"Where are we?" he asked. "I mean, what city?"

"Omaha, Nebraska," Piper said. "I saw a billboard as we flew in. But I don't know what this mansion is. We came in right behind you, but as you were landing, Leo, I swear it looked like—I don't know—"

"Lasers," Leo said. He picked up a piece of dragon wreckage and threw it toward the top of the fence. Immediately a turret popped up from the brick wall and a beam of pure heat incinerated the bronze plating to ashes.

Jason whistled. "Some defence system. How are we even alive?"

"Festus," Leo said miserably. "He took the fire. The lasers sliced him to bits as he came in so they didn't focus on you. I led him into a death trap. "

"You couldn't have known," Piper said. "He saved our lives again. "

"But what now?" Jason said. "The main gates are locked, and I'm guessing I can't fly us out of here without getting shot down. "

Leo looked up the walkway at the big white mansion. "Since we can't go out, we'll have to go in." he took a slow shuddery breath, forcing his hands to stop shaking as he stared ahead, "Whoever's defence system this is..." he pressed his lips together and shook his head, "It's not their fault I guess. But whoever it is probably won't be too friendly." he needed to focus. He could sense the traps ahead of them and without him his friends wouldn't stand a chance of making it.

"Leo-" Jason's voice was soft, "Are you-"

"No. No I'm not okay." Leo shook his head, forcing down the near crippling wave of grief, "But I'll be okay eventually." his voice shook he forced himself to take a slow deep breath, "I know how grief goes- it takes time. And Festus' death won't be in vain I won't allow that.

"He meant a lot to you." Piper's voice was quiet, "I mean I knew he did but-"

"When I first saw him- it was with my brother- long story, the moment I laid eyes on him I just knew he belonged with me. My brother saw Festus as a fascinating challenge but he was always more than that to me. It was like- he's a part of me guys. I put a part of myself into fixing him and now he's gone."

"I am so sorry." Jason's expression was filled with guilt, "He's gone because of us-"

"No." Leo raised a hand, "It's not your fault. Either of you." he could see that Piper looked a bit guilty too. "It majorly sucks but..." he shook his head, "It wasn't meant to last I guess." he shook his head, "Now we need to focus on getting to the mansion- and I get the feeling that it's not going to be easy."

"Why?"

"I'm a son of Hephaestus, I have gifts." Leo's smile was fake, and it was grim in any case. "I can sense traps- and when I say that there's a lot of traps here, you know that there's a lot of traps."

"What do we do then?"

"You follow me." Leo's back straightened and he patted his toolbelt, "If I can sense them then I should also be able to disarm them- it's not like the traps in the Labyrinth, these ones I can actually disarm. But you have to do everything I tell you okay?"

"Okay." Piper's voice was slightly nervous, "What happens if we mess up and do something wrong?"

"Well." Leo let out a breath, "I don't wanna scare you too much but you would probably end up very very dead."

"Uh." Jason swallowed hard, "Right. Let's avoid that then shall we?"

"Just do what I tell you too and we'll get through this alive." Leo's voice was uncharacteristically grim- and Piper and Jason fell into step behind him as he started striding towards the mansion.

And to give them credit where it was due, they did everything he told them, stopping every time he raised his hand, waiting while he tilted his head, silently scanning for the traps that he could sense ahead- the first one was a motion activated trap door in the side walk.

Piper and Jason stopped behind him as usual, and they waited as he'd examined the trap before he'd selected a tool and got to work, if he was in a better mood, if he wasn't mourning his friend he'd have probably noticed Piper and Jason exchanging awed looks as Leo moved- it was impressive to people who weren't used to seeing him work- if the situation had been different then their reactions would probably have filled him with a kind of smug pride, he always enjoyed seeing people realise that even if he wasn't a fighter he was badass in his own way- and while he knew Piper and Jason knew that he also knew that neither of them had ever seen him at work like this before.

Sadly enough he wasn't in the mood to look back so he didn't see, and he just kept moving.

And whoever owned the mansion clearly had something to protect because the sheer number of traps was ridiculous- after the trap door on the side walk there were the lasers on the steps, then the nerve gas dispenser on the porch railings, the pressure-sensitive poison spikes in the welcome mat, and of course the exploding doorbell.

It took him time of course, but soon enough they were at the door and he was tucking away his tools as he stared at the door, his eyes narrowing.

"That was amazing Leo." Jason's voice was almost hesitant, "Seriously-"

"The doors unlocked."

"What?"

"The door." Leo repeated the words, "It's unlocked."

There was a moment of confused silence and then Piper spoke up, her voice hesitant, "There's no way- why would anyone bother with all of those traps and leave the door unlocked? It doesn't make any sense."

"Maybe they don't see the point in locking the door because of the traps?" Jason didn't sound convinced, he sounded worried. "I mean, without Leo we wouldn't have made it past the side walk. Maybe he just feels secure because no one's ever gotten past every trap before-"

"I doubt it." Leo's eyes were narrowed as he reached out and grasped the door knob, gripping it tightly, "I have a bad feeling about this you guys."

"We could turn around and just leave." Piper suggested, her voice worried, "If this is a trap-"

"We don't have a ride." Leo grimaced, shaking his head, "We don't have anywhere else to go okay? We have to check this place out if we want to see what we can do."

"Maybe while we're here you can help me send an Iris Message." Jason's voice was hopeful, "Hera told me Thalia could help us,"

"Well. There's only one way to know for sure." and with that Leo was turning the doorknob and pushing it open.